When you get in trouble, the classic defense is "Some Other Guy Did It."

Generations have used this approach under fire from their parents, their teachers, their judges and juries. It even has its own acronym. SOGDI.

The only defense more attractive than "Some Other Guy Did It" is "The Dead Guy Did It." The dead guy can't contradict you.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski's attorney made it clear several weeks ago that SOGDI will be the mayor's response if he is charged in connection with the official corruption that has led to guilty pleas from various people who, according to court papers, pointed the finger at Public Official No. 3, whose description only fits Pawlowski.

Philadelphia lawyer Jack McMahon responded several weeks ago in an interview with The Morning Call that Pawlowski was too busy campaigning for governor and the U.S. Senate to be strong-arming contributors. He said the mayor left the fundraising to his campaign consultant, Mike Fleck, whom he trusted.

If anything illegal happened, he concluded, Mike Fleck Did It.

Fleck, who emerged from hiding last week to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion and bribery offenses and a single count of tax evasion, is the perfect target for SOGDI. The former car salesman turned political and business consultant is an almost Damon Runyanesque character, so over-the-top at times that I've been mystified by his close personal and political connection with the much more reserved Pawlowski, for whom Fleck seemed to be something of an alter ego.

Twice in recent years, friends asked for my thoughts on Fleck, whom I've covered dating to my early days as a columnist and editor in Easton.

Fleck was encouraging one friend to open a business in Allentown. The other friend was considering employment with Fleck's political consulting firm. Both wanted to know: Is he trustworthy?

I offered a mixed review, but I didn't try to talk them out of it, even though I once described Fleck on my blog as "an ambitious political functionary who in the past has not always demonstrated himself to be a person of great truthfulness."

When I met Fleck, he was a brash young Easton councilman who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in a campaign where he was outed for exaggerating his schooling and meager business background. Now, he was the biggest Democratic political operative in the Lehigh Valley.

I had no clue whether my friends could trust the reinvented Fleck. I just advised them to go into it with their eyes open. Although the new business never opened, the other friend took a job with Fleck's H Street Strategies — and found himself abruptly out of work when Fleck shuttered his business and disappeared last July in the wake of the federal raid on Allentown City Hall.

With his disappearance, and subsequent revelations from several Morning Call sources that he had been recording conversations for the FBI with the mayor and others, Fleck became something of a mystery man. Why did he leave? Where was he holed up? Would he be charged? Would he implicate Ed Pawlowski?

The answer to that last question is: Yes and very seriously. Court documents filed in connection with his plea offered new details of an alleged conspiracy of "bribery and kickbacks" involving Fleck, Public Official No. 3 and Public Official No. 1 (whose description only matches the Reading mayor) and several other officials and campaign donors. Those court papers considerably broaden the picture of alleged illegal activity in Allentown and Reading, where Fleck worked for Mayor Vaughn Spencer.

Consider this exchange:

"Upon hearing that Donor No. 4 had expressed doubts about Law Firm No. 4's willingness to make future contributions, Public Official No. 3 complained, 'Really! I've given him millions of dollars … Relatively, compared to other law firms, they've given nothing. [Donor No. 4] for sure will get nothing now … You know, [bleep] them! And I'm not gonna [award work to Donor No. 4's law partner] or anything. Screw it all!'

"Defendant Michael Fleck told Public Official No. 3 that he would 'beat the crap out of' Donor No. 4 by making clear that Law Firm No. 4's ability to receive future legal contracts would be imperiled if the firm did not kick back adequate campaign contributions to Public Official No. 3."

Not good. But if you're expecting the latest guilty plea to finally persuade the mayor to resign, think again.

Mark Schamel, a member of Pawlowski's legal defense team, responded in a written statement that it was "disappointing" to learn about Fleck's illegal conduct.

"If Mike will tell the truth," Schamel said, "it will become clear that the mayor was not a participant in any wrongdoing. While we feel very badly for Mike and his family and the terrible situation he is in, we remain hopeful that he will not continue to misrepresent the truth and hurt other innocent people simply to save himself."